Modified chess game

ABSTRACT

A chess-like game having pieces and rules similar to conventional chess but which includes a new piece having powers and limitations not present in conventional chess pieces.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/862,891 filed Oct. 25, 2006, the content of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a board game and more particularly to amodified chess game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION State of the Art

Traditional chess is a game requiring strategy. It provides the pleasureof analytical thought and has been used by schools to help developanalytical thinking. However, some players, including the great championCapablanca, have felt a need for some modification of the conventionalgame of chess.

There are numerous prior art patents that disclose variations of thetraditional game.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,237 issued to Gary Weiss in 1976 discloses a chessgame that can be played by more than two players.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,756 issued to Robert L. Linnekin in 1983 discloses achess game that is played with a circular board.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,666 issued to Timothy Adams in 1992 discloses amodified chess game that is played by four players.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,753 issued to Tom Yuen et al. in 1992 discloses agame similar to chess but which includes a number of pieces not found inchess. The rules for the game are quite different than those oftraditional chess.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,157 issued to Michael King in 1994 discloses a chessgame in which military pieces are substituted for the traditional chesspieces.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,329 issued to Richard Nason in 1997 discloses achess game utilizing a three-dimensional game board.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,692,754; 5,901,957 and 6,095,523 each disclose modifiedchess games in which pieces with powers not provided to traditionalpieces are included as part of the game.

The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants by D. B. Pritchard Published by Games& Puzzles Publications, P.O. Box 20, Godalming, Surrey GU8 4YP, UnitedKingdom. This provides information concerning other variations oftraditional chess.

While numerous modifications of traditional chess have been provided,none have included the modifications provided by the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The game of the present invention is related to traditional chess buthas an additional type of piece and rules that expand the powers oftraditional chess pieces. The additional piece is labeled a ‘wizard’ forpurposes of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the game of the present invention can be hadby referring to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating how a bishop can pass through theadditional piece called the wizard (if the same color) and attack anopposing piece; and

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating permitted diagonal moves of a wizard ofthe modified chess game of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating permitted orthogonal moves of a wizardand how the wizard can capture opposing pieces in the modified chessgame of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating how a bishop can use the wizard to moveto different squares; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram similar to FIG. 4 illustrating the permissiblemovements of a bishop using a wizard in the modified chess game of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram similar to FIG. 5 but illustrating additionalpermissible moves of a bishop when the bishop has the option of usingeither of two wizards in the modified chess game of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating permissible movements of a knight usinga wizard in the modified chess game of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram similar to FIG. 7 but illustrating permissible movesof a knight using a wizard and permissible moves of a knight that arealso allowed in conventional chess; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating permissible movements of a rook using awizard in the modified chess game of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating permissible movements of a queen usinga wizard in the modified chess game of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating permissible movements of a wizard inconjunction with another wizard; and

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the squares to which a wizard couldmove when involved with a knight in a maneuver referred to as‘propelling’; and

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the squares to which a wizard‘propelled’ by a bishop could move; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the squares to which a wizardpropelled by a rook could move; and

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the options involved when a queencould propel either of two wizards; and

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating various propelling options involving apawn and wizard; and

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating the various squares to which a kingcould move when castling; and

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating the ability of a king to castle kingside where a wizard nullifies the checking power of an opposing piece;and

FIG. 19 shows the initial alignment of the pieces in the preferredembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1-19, a method of playing a modified chess game inaccordance with the rules of the present invention is illustrated. Thegame board in the first preferred embodiment is in the form of aconventional chessboard with an additional two files/columns and thepieces are conventional pieces except for an additional type of piecedesignated herein as a wizard. A vertical column eight squares deepwould make up a file. A rank or row would be comprised of ten squaresrunning horizontal to the files. For the sake of description and betterunderstanding, the files could be labeled A to J and the ranks 1 to 8.The square at the left hand corner of the player with the light coloredpieces would be A1.

In the drawings the pieces are designated as follows:

-   -   W denotes the wizard piece    -   Q denotes a queen    -   B denotes a bishop    -   P denotes a pawn    -   K denotes a king    -   R denotes a rook    -   N denotes a knight

While the board is shown in the drawings as having squares all of thesame color, it is intended, at least in the preferred embodiment that isnow being described, that a two-color chessboard be used. The board isbeing shown as not including colored squares to avoid confusion indescribing the position and movement of the pieces of the modified chessgame of the present invention.

In general the rules of traditional chess apply to the modified chessgame of the present invention unless otherwise noted.

The conventional pieces are provided except that an additional type ofpiece, a wizard W, is provided for each player, each player getting twosuch wizard pieces. The conventional pieces, in addition to having allof the traditional powers of movement, capture and promotion, haveaugmented powers as will be apparent as the description proceeds.

The wizard cannot capture or be captured by anything except an opposingwizard. Other pieces, including another wizard, are able to ‘passthrough’ a wizard of the same color, i.e., move along the piece's normalline of movement as if the wizard were not there; but opposing pieces,other than a wizard (or a knight), are unable to pass through or over awizard of another color. Thus a wizard acts as a shield for pieces ofits own color but allows pieces of the other color to be attacked. FIG.1 illustrates this by showing a bishop B attacking an opposing queen Qthrough a wizard W while the queen Q cannot move through the wizard W toattack the bishop B since the bishop B is shielded by wizard W. Thebishop and the wizard are the same color. The square on which the movingpiece lands, however, must be a square to which the piece could havemoved if the wizard had not been in between. The power of a king or pawnto pass through a wizard is more restricted than that of other pieces.The king may pass through only when castling. A pawn may pass throughonly on its first move. As in regular chess, a pawn may move to thefourth rank/row on its first move, and in this variant it may passthrough a wizard on the third rank to do so.

The wizard is able to move one square in any direction to an unoccupiedadjacent square. The wizard is also able to move by hopping or leapingover its own adjacent or opposing adjacent pieces either diagonally asin checkers or orthogonally (along a rank or file), but not orthogonallyand diagonally on the same turn. The wizard is able to make multipleleaps in a given turn and by leaping could even move forward, backward,and sideways orthogonally on the same turn or diagonally forward andbackward. The wizard is able to capture an opposing wizard by leapingover it and landing on the square beyond if that square is unoccupied.But capturing is not obligatory when making such a leap. FIG. 2illustrates a wizard W leaping diagonally and wizard W as shown in FIG.2 moves from one corner of the board to almost the opposite cornermoving over the opposing pawns P, queen Q and king K and its own piecesbishop B and rook R. The moving wizard and the other pieces of thatplayer are shown as lighter than the opposing player's pieces. FIG. 3illustrates the wizard W leaping orthogonally to capture an opposingwizard W at the end. As shown in FIG. 3 the wizard W captures theopposing wizard W with its final leap having first leaped over two ofits own rooks R, and an opposing queen Q, bishop B, rook R and pawn P.Again, the moving wizard and the other pieces of that player are shownas lighter than the opposing player's pieces.

As described in more detail below, a bishop, knight, rook or queen may‘bounce’ or ricochet off one of its own wizards. This maneuver is alsoreferred to as a ‘wizard bounce’ although the other piece ricochets offa stationary wizard. Kings and pawns cannot bounce. A wizard may bounceoff a wizard of the same color if the first wizard initially moves onesquare (no hop) to get to the square occupied by the second wizard,bounces at a right angle to its prior line of movement, and endsadjacent to the second wizard. There is a limit of one bounce to a turnno matter what type of piece bounces. Captures can be made at the end ofa bounce except by a wizard bouncing off another wizard.

As best seen in FIG. 4, once during a player's turn, a bishop B canbounce off one of its own wizards W, so that the bishop B comes to thesquare occupied by the wizard W and then moves off at a right angle.Note as illustrated in FIG. 4, the bishop B can bounce off the wizard Win one of two possible directions. FIG. 5 illustrates the squares X towhich a bishop B could move under conventional rules and the squares Xto which it could move using a wizard W. The Xs denoting squaresaccessible through a wizard bounce are lighter in tone than thosedenoting those accessible through conventional movement.

FIG. 6 illustrates the options open to the bishop B using conventionalmovement or bouncing off of one of either of the two wizards eachdenoted with a W. The bishop B could move to squares denoted with darkertoned Xs using the conventional rules and to squares denoted by lightertoned Xs by bouncing off either wizard marked W. The Xs denoting squaresaccessible through a wizard bounce are lighter in tone than thosedenoting those accessible through conventional movement.

As best seen in FIG. 7, a knight N can make a wizard bounce by coming toa square occupied by one of the wizards W and then making a furtherknight move to any one of the squares X. A player can make only onewizard bounce on a given turn. FIG. 8 illustrates the squares X to whicha knight N could move by bouncing off of a wizard W and the squares C towhich it could move under conventional rules. The diagram illustratesthe greatly increased range and power of the knight N under the game ofthe present invention.

As best seen in FIG. 9, a rook (R) can bounce by moving to a squareoccupied by one of its own wizards (W) and then moving at a right angle.The rook moves to a square occupied by one of its own wizards and thenmoves off that square at a right angle. Two possible trajectories areshown. Since, in this instance, the rook approaches the wizard squarealong a file, when it comes to the wizard square it can bounce and movein either direction along the rank on which the wizard sits.

A queen can bounce by moving to a square occupied by a wizard of thesame color and then moving off at a right angle. If the queen moves tothe wizard along a diagonal, it can bounce only along a diagonal. If itmoves to the wizard square orthogonally, i.e., along a rank or file, itmust bounce along a rank or file. For instance, if it came to the wizardalong a file, it could bounce by then turning at a right angle andmoving along the rank on which the wizard is situated. The queen cannotapproach the wizard square diagonally and then bounce orthogonally orvice versa. In understanding this restriction, it may help to rememberthat in orthodox chess a queen may move like a bishop or like a rook butnot both ways on the same turn. FIG. 10 illustrates this distinction. InFIG. 10, when the queen (Q) approaches the square occupied by the wizardmarked W₁, it moves orthogonally, like a rook along a file and must moveorthogonally like a rook along a rank in order to bounce. In contrast,the queen (Q) moves diagonally like a bishop to the square occupied bythe wizard marked W₂ and hence must move diagonally at a right angle tothe original line of movement when it bounces.

A wizard may make a bounce by moving one square to a square occupied byanother wizard of the same color and then moving off at a right angle.It cannot hop or capture on the same turn. FIG. 11 shows two examples ofa wizard bouncing off another wizard of the same color. The wizardmarked W1 moves one square along a diagonal to the square occupied bythe wizard marked W2, bounces off W2, and moves one square at a rightangle along another diagonal, ending up on either of the next nearestsquares on that second diagonal. The wizard labeled W3 moves one squarealong a file to the square occupied by the wizard labeled W4, bouncesoff of W4, and moves one square at a right angle along the rank on whichW4 is sitting, ending up on that rank on either of the two squaresadjacent to the square of W4.

A knight, bishop, rook or queen can ‘propel’ a wizard of the same color.This could be considered a two part turn. First the piece moves unto thesquare of the wizard, and then the wizard moves as though it were thatpiece. However, a propelled wizard is not allowed to capture on thatturn. A propelled wizard could move forward, backward, or sideways. Itmay, for instance, follow in reverse the trajectory of the propellingpiece and land on the square originally occupied by that piece orfurther back.

FIG. 12 shows the squares, marked X, to which a wizard (W) could move ifpropelled by a knight (N). Note this includes the square on which theknight was previously situated.

FIG. 13 shows the squares, marked X, to which a wizard (W) propelled bya bishop (B) could move. Note that this includes the square the bishopoccupied at the beginning of the turn.

FIG. 14 shows the squares, marked X, to which a wizard (W) propelled bya rook (R) could move. Note that this includes the square the rookoccupied at the beginning of the turn.

A wizard propelled by a queen would move diagonally like a bishop if thequeen had come to the wizard square along a diagonal like a bishop andlike a rook if the queen had come along a rank or file. FIG. 15 showsthe queen (Q) having the option of propelling either of two wizards, W₁and W₂. If propelled, W₁ could move to the square previously occupied bythe queen or any of the squares labeled X1. On the other hand, if thequeen moves to the square occupied by W₂, W₂ could move to the squareoccupied previously by the queen or to any of the squares marked X₂.

A king cannot propel a wizard.

A wizard cannot propel another wizard per se, but a wizard passingthrough or bouncing off another wizard could have a similar effect.

A pawn may propel a wizard but only on the pawn's first move and onlyone or two squares vertically forward along the same file. The propelledwizard would end up on the square just in front of the pawn. Forexample, if a pawn is at square A2 and a wizard of the same color atsquare A3, the pawn could move to A3 and propel the wizard to A4, ormove to A4 and propel the wizard to A5. If a pawn is at square A2 and awizard at A4, the pawn may move to A4 and propel the wizard to A5.Neither the pawn nor the wizard could move through or capture otherpieces that turn. FIG. 16 shows various propelling options involving apawn and a wizard. In the first file (column), the pawn is initially onthe second rank and the wizard on the third rank. The pawn moves up onesquare to the third rank and propels the wizard to the fourth rank. Inthe second file, the pawn is initially on the second rank and the wizardon the third rank. The pawn moves up two squares to the fourth rank andpropels the wizard to the fifth rank. In the third file, the pawn isinitially on the second rank and the wizard on the fourth rank. The pawnmoves up two squares and propels the wizard to the fifth rank.

A piece that can propel as described above, may come to the wizardsquare by means of a bounce and then propel the wizard. A bounce mayproceed a propelling on the same turn. Likewise, a propelled wizard maybounce in the same manner the propelling piece would bounce. But theremay not be more than one bounce or one propelling on a given turn.

The capture of an enemy piece, including a pawn, ends the player's turn.

A player shall have the right to castle as in conventional chess with acastling rook ending up adjacent to the castled king, but the player hasthe option to place the king one, two or three squares from the sideedge of the board with the rook adjacent if castling queen side and oneor two squares from the side edge with the rook adjacent if castlingking side. To castle, the king moves at least two squares and cannotmove into a corner. The rook moves to a square adjacent to the king butcloser to the center of the rank. As in conventional chess, neither theking nor the rook involved can have moved prior to castling. FIG. 17illustrates the squares, marked X, to which the king (K) could move whencastling.

Castling may be done through a wizard of the same color, but this is theonly time a king can pass through a wizard and the wizard may not moveon that turn. The position of the wizard may limit castling options. Forinstance, if the wizard is at I1, the king may castle king side but onlywith the king ending at H1 and the rook at G1 since the wizard occupiesI1.

As in conventional chess, a player may not castle when the king is incheck or when the king would have to pass through a square where itwould be in check. But a king may pass through a square to castle if awizard of the same color occupies that square even if an opposing piecewould otherwise check the king on that square. The wizard occupying thesquare nullifies the check. FIG. 18 shows the ability of the king (K) tomove through one of its own wizards (W) when castling. It also showsthat the king can move through the square protected by the wizard thatoccupies it. The wizard nullifies the attack by the opposing bishop (B).If the wizard were not there, the king could not castle since it wouldbe passing through check. But the wizard rather than the bishop controlsthat square.

A pawn can promote to a wizard when it reaches the other side of theboard.

In the preferred embodiment, the board is a rectangle eight squares deepby ten squares wide. The size of the board could be varied howeverwithout departing from the invention. For instance, the board could beten squares wide but nine or ten squares deep.

As shown in FIG. 19, the initial alignment of the pieces in thepreferred embodiment is the same as in conventional chess except thatwizards shall be placed between the rooks and knights and additionalpawns shall be placed in front of the wizards. The alignment could bevaried, however, without departing from the invention. In FIG. 19, Pdenotes a pawn, R denotes a rook, W denotes a wizard, N denotes aknight, B denotes a bishop, Q denotes a queen, and K denotes a king.

Although several variations and modifications of the present inventionhave been described, it should be apparent to one skilled in the artthat other modifications could be made without departing from the spiritof the invention as set forth in the following claims.

1. A chess-like game comprising: a) playing pieces including pawns, aking, a queen, rooks, bishops and knights and opposing playing piecesincluding pawns, a king, a queen, rooks, bishops and knights that aresimilar to those in orthodox or traditional chess and have all of thepowers of movement, capture, and promotion that their counterparts intraditional chess have; b) an additional type of piece, referred to hereas a wizard, which cannot capture or be captured by anything except anopposing wizard; and c) a playing board in the form of a conventionalchess board but with an additional two files or columns so that theboard is ten squares wide and eight squares deep; and d) an initialalignment of the pieces as in conventional chess except that wizardsshall be placed between the rooks and knights and additional pawns shallbe placed in front of the wizards.
 2. The game of claim 1 wherein: a)the playing pieces are able to move along the piece's normal line ofmovement through the wizard as if the wizard were not there; and b)opposing playing pieces, other than a wizard or a knight, being unableto pass through or over a wizard of another color; and c) a king canpass through a wizard only when castling; and d) a pawn can pass througha wizard only on the pawn's first move.
 3. The game of claim 1 whereinthe wizard is able to move one square in any direction to an unoccupiedadjacent square.
 4. The game of claim 1 wherein: a) the wizard is ableto move by leaping over adjacent pieces either diagonally ororthogonally but not orthogonally and diagonally on the same turn; andb) the wizard is able to make multiple leaps in a given turn and byleaping being able to move forward, backward, and sideways orthogonallyon the same turn or diagonally forward and backward; and c) the wizardbeing able to capture an opposing wizard by leaping over it and landingon the square beyond if that square is unoccupied; and d) a wizard mayleap over an opposing wizard but the player with the leaping wizard maydecline to capture the opposing wizard.
 5. The game of claim 1 wherein:a) the bishop being able to bounce off of one of its own wizards, sothat the bishop comes to the square occupied by the wizard and thenmoves off at a right angle; and b) the knight being able to bounce offof a wizard by coming to a square occupied a wizard of the same color asthe knight and then making a further knight move from said square; andc) the rook being able to bounce off of a wizard by coming to a squareoccupied by a wizard of the same color as the rook and then moving offat a right angle; and d) the queen being able to bounce off of a wizardby coming to a square occupied a wizard of the same color as the queenand then moving off at a right angle; and e) the wizard being able tobounce off of another wizard by moving one square to a square occupiedby another wizard of the same color as the moving wizard and then movingoff at a right angle one further square; and f) a player being able tomake only one bounce on a given turn.
 6. The game of claim 1 whereincapture of an enemy piece, including a pawn, ends the player's turn. 7.The game of as defined in claim 1 wherein: a.) a player being able tocastle as in conventional chess with the castling rook ending upadjacent to the castled king, but the player, if castling queen side,has the option to place the king one, two or three squares from the sideedge of the board with the rook adjacent, and, if castling king side,has the option to place the king one or two squares from the side edgeof the board with the rook adjacent; and b.) castling may be donethrough a wizard of the same color, but this is the only time a king canpass through a wizard and the wizard may not move on that turn; and c.)the position of the wizard may limit castling options as neither theking nor the rook may occupy the same square as the wizard; and d.) aking may pass through a square to castle if a wizard of the same coloroccupies that square even if an opposing piece would otherwise check theking on that square as the wizard occupying the square nullifies thecheck.
 8. A kit for converting a traditional chess game to the chesslike game of claim 1, the kit including the wizard and the playingboard.